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As @HHSGov follows the Biden transition team in announcing it will no longer withhold 50% of vaccine supply to states, people keep conflating this with a change in the 2-dose regimen. That is NOT what this change is about. 1/4
The proposal is to release more supply to states as it is produced, and then deliver second doses to people with new supply in 3-4 weeks when they’re due. Holding large numbers of doses in federal freezers is surrendering a lot of potential benefit. 2/4
Our study published last week estimated the potential gains from wider release of doses to states, and we found that we could prevent 23-29% more COVID-19 cases by reducing the initial stockpiles and pushing out more doses early. 3/4 https://twitter.com/salomonja/status/1346256674495942656
Surprised to see pushback when the Biden team announced the change in strategy on Friday. Yes, we need to address local bottlenecks, but we can do more than one thing at a time. More supply to states and more of this supply into arms. Glad to see @HHSGov come onboard. 4/4
More clarification here from the Biden team, emphasizing that this is not a deviation from the FDA-authorized 2-dose schedule, and that supply and reserves will be carefully managed to ensure that people will receive their second dose on time. All good and sensible strategy. https://twitter.com/pw_cunningham/status/1349012026228682757
Secretary Azar, in the briefing, reiterating that releasing more doses rather than stockpiling is NOT expected to modify the 21 day (Pfizer) or 28 day (Moderna) intervals between first and second doses. https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/1349047411235237895?s=20
